Specifically speaking: baggy jeans. Not the kind that hang down below your boxers, but baggy enough.
It seems like it was just yesterday when Nicholas would put on anything I would select for him for school. But now he's deciding for himself, and as a parent, I have to figure out where to draw the line between letting him assert his independence, or allow him to go to school looking sloppy.
Well what I've learned from many experts is that pre-teen boys, like my son, are searching for an identity, amidst a social landscape of peer pressure... and for many parents it can be perplexing if we're not prepared for the changes in their behavior. It can feel like we're somehow losing control.
There's a book by author Bonnie Harris called "When Your Kids Push Your Buttons", and in it she says we as parents should expect our buttons to be pushed at times by our pre-teens. They're not always going to listen and do exactly what we want them to.
So expect the unexpected and try to understand why your child is behaving in a certain way. It will make life a lot easier and perhaps avoid those verbal confrontations that tend to pop up at times. It was especially helpful for me with Nicholas and the baggy jeans and skull and crossbones t-shirts. Instead of voicing disapproval, I realize that's what his friends are also wearing, and they're all good kids.
So what the heck?
Just make sure the jeans stay above the waistline please.
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